Adopted Peace
by Terapsina
Summary: It's been ten years since Ares lowered Xena into her icy grave and he hasn't smiled since. But his immortal life gets a new light when he notices a young girl with green eyes that seems familiar and is able to sense him. Her name is Livia. X/A


_Disclaimer:_ I do not own any of the characters written about in this story. Those rights belong to Robert Tapert, Sam Raimi, Christian Williams, Renaissance Pictures and Universal Media Studios. No copy infringement intended.

_A__U: _I should warn you about this being Ares/Xena story although I don't really understand why the warning is necessary. Also I have to tell that I don't like Gabrielle that much but I promise there is no purposeful bashing of her character. Just so you know I don't care what mythology says, Cupid is not Ares son. Also this starts out as more like family story between Eve (Who is currently named Livia) and Ares, X/A action will start later when she gets out of her ice-casket.

O0o0O

Ten years had past from the day Ares watched the mortal warrior woman he loved drink poison and die. Ten years since his heart had turned to smithereens, now not even Aphrodite could get out a real laugh from the God of War. But in spite of his wounded being world continued to live on, and he himself still had wars that needed attention. So in spite of rather spending this day on mount Etna, looking at his Warrior Princess beneath the cold ice protecting his love from time, Ares was forced to confront one of his Roman generals about his idiotic attempts to wipe out Amazons. He had been given an earful about that from Artemis and the general would pay for indirectly involving Athena in his business.

It was while he waited for the general to return to his rooms, when Ares attention was grabbed by the unmistakable sounds of training from the courtyard below.

"Parry, Livia! You're not even trying, your uncle told me your mother was a great warrior, if that's true she would be ashamed to see you failing so miserably."

Being bored and frankly feeling miserable himself Ares stepped closer towards the window and looked outside at the training session going on in the garden below.

There stood a proud and arrogant man, obviously the teacher in this lesson in front of a redheaded girl reaching about ten years of age. The man's words seemed to have struck a nerve because the girl Livia was attacking with a fury using the wooden training swords given to her. The spark with which the little spitfire was attacking the bigger and more experienced opponent was somewhat familiar, entranced he reappeared in the garden for a closer look, still invisible to the mortals around him. Stepping forward to admire this child's intuitive fighting style seemed to have stopped the girl in her tracks, her emerald eyes were inexplicably turned towards his hidden form.

But that was impossible, there had ever only been one mortal that had ever sensed him. The shock pulled Ares deeply within a memory where he was confronted by those same green orbs belonging to the face of a baby that until yesterday he was sure died on the same day as her mother. But even knowing that, Ares was sure; in front of him stood Eve the daughter of Xena, not some common Roman girl by the name Livia.

Quickly vanishing he reappeared in his throne room on Olympus completely lost for words and dropped in his seat.

Xena's daughter was alive, living with Romans and being trained as a warrior, his Princess would hate the very idea. For a moment Ares considered doing nothing and looking in on this Livia in the next years to see if she might succeed where her mother had failed. Some seconds he dreamt of Livia leading his armies, but then he ruthlessly crushed his imagination. No, Xena would never forgive him if he turned her daughter the same path led by her. And though dead, Ares couldn't force himself to betray her that completely.

But he needed help to deal with the mess his newfound knowledge gave, and there was only one person that would agree to assist him and not inform the other gods of the continued existence of the Child of Twilight.

"Aphrodite!"

O0o0O

When after minutes of uselessly screaming for his sister's name she finally arrived in her usual pink attire that was cruelly torturing Ares eyesight the God was already slowly going towards full grown panic.

"What Bro, I thought you were going to spend this day off somewhere brooding."

At that point the usually extremely oblivious Goddess noticed her brother, by that point up from the ground restlessly pacing around his creepy throne room not even paying her presence any attention.

"What's the matter Ar?"

Ares grabbed Dite by her bare elbow and spoke in a hushed tone as if he was afraid someone was listening.

"Promise me you won't tell anyone what I'm going to tell you!" Ares seemed desperate to gain her promise, and his frantic actions were confusing the lovely Goddess. Her brother did _not_ act frantically, like ever.

"Chill Bro, what's got your leather in a twist?" seeing the glare War God sent her way she hastily added "I promise!"

Taking his sisters hand much more gently he exhaled in relief and brought her to the one place no one without his permission could enter except if a unified assault was launched by practically the whole Olympian pantheons. Here in his favorite temple they were away from spying ears.

Noticing to where Ares had taken her Aphrodite's eyebrows rose, he almost never allowed her entrance in his Macedonian Fortress, the last time was many centuries ago when her life was threatened by a bunch of followers from some Hindu cult worshipping Kamadeva, that had somehow gotten their hands on one of the rare god killing weapons. She shuddered at the unpleasant memory.

Completely aware of the seriousness of the situation because of the out of character behavior of her brother she didn't comment on where they were standing, instead she just waved her hand creating a pink and soft loveseat and sat down gesturing him to continue with what he wanted to say.

"I saw Eve!"

Dite didn't know what she had expected, but this definitely wasn't it. If gods could pale Aphrodite's skin would be turning white.

"What?"

"I saw Xena's daughter. You know, Eve, the Child of Twilight Eve."

Dite for just a moment was lost for words, but she still managed to choke out a question.

"Where?"

Aphrodite loved Xena's daughter, of course as a Goddess of Love that wasn't so hard. But she had watched over the little baby on Ares orders on most nights while they were hunted, because Xena would have felt his presence and wouldn't have allowed it. Eve had reminded Dite so much of Cupie and Baby Bliss that she couldn't help but hate the rest of the Gods for trying to kill that little, innocent miracle. After learning about the three deaths from Ares, she and he were the only two Gods mourning not celebrating.

Ares obviously knew perfectly well how his somewhat ditzy sister cared for his Warrior Princess and her daughter so he knew perfectly well that she wouldn't reveal this new information to their vengeful family.

"I saw her Dite. She is living with a Roman general's family, their training her to become a warrior."

That got Aphrodite's attention.

"Warrior Babe wouldn't have liked that. Ar you have to stop it."

Dite was staring at him just daring him to disagree, and in spite of how well she knew her bro his ready answer still surprised her.

"I know!"

A smile bloomed on her lovely face and she jumped up to hug Ares with a high pitched squeal.

"This is great. Eve's alive, we have to rescue her before Athena realizes the same thing you did. Take me to her, please?" Ares had been waiting for Dite to ask just that, and now that his sister had voiced what he himself had wanted to do since he recognized Livia as Eve, they both vanished only to reappear in the garden Ares last saw Eve training.

O0o0O

The garden was mostly empty if you didn't count the three gray pigeons drinking from the old stone fountain on one side of the place that used to be a garden, but now was nothing more than a training area. Not giving the birds any attention the two Gods were for a moment undecided about their next step.

"She's probably somewhere inside." Ares informed his sister, noticing Dite opening her mouth, never a good sign.

Both of them entered the overly decorated Roman manor not exactly certain about where to look for Eve, but knowing they would probably know it once they saw it.

It took the two of them about five minutes to find a door that attracted their attention because of the small girls voice drifting out from the cracks between it and floor.

A soft scream behind those doors was very worrying. The gods of war and love reacting quickly eathered within the room to be met with a sight neither expected nor wished to see.

A muscular man who Ares recognized as the Roman General he had first come to meet was brutally lashing the ten year old girl that had years ago brought panic to Olympus. Before Ares could strike the man down and impale him on his sword he was served a sight he had previously seen only few times and that had always made him uneasy. Goddess of Love is a sweet and bubbly person that never fails to awaken a smile in anyone except her brother Ares and her uncle Hades and even they sometimes failed to stop themselves. But she was also a part of the most powerful emotion on earth, the one that could bring agonizing pain as well as indescribable happiness, sometimes without thought or intention, and that fact made her an incredible bitch when riled up. Seeing a young girl – especially a girl she had watched over for months, made sure was safe from the rage of Gods and sometimes sang to with her mind without awakening a tired but edgy Warrior Princess, - getting lashed with a belt riled her up. That's why this particular Ares Army's General was going to learn why love births obsession, jealousy, fear, bloodlust and rage. Just because Aphrodite preferred the purer version of her incarnation didn't mean she wasn't a part of also its darker aspects.

Love took one look at the grueling scene meters in front of her and saw red, but not the red that created dreamy looks in teenagers across Greece, the red her brother saw every day while working on his wars. The mortal man flew across the little space of the room and slammed into the wall staying two feet off the ground. The Goddess' face had seemingly transformed from a kindly beauty to the savage version of itself. A sinister smile curled her lips and her next words were only a whisper amplifying the ominous atmosphere already around them.

"Take Eve! I'll be with you in just a moment."

Knowing better than to contradict her when she was in one of these moods he gently picked up the girl that was the last piece left of his dear Princess and prepared to travel back to his favorite fortress. After taking one last look at the terrified man who had hurt the important child in his arms he glanced at his sister and almost felt sorry for him. Then he felt the blood smearing his hands from the wounds on the small girls back, felt her silent weeping and changed his mind. He wasn't sorry for the sorry excuse of a man at all.

O0o0O

_AN2:_ It seems I'm currently at the mercy of a Xena obsession. Without surprise this means it's a Xena/Ares story, I'm a shipper through and through so no surprise there.

I can't seem to figure out if I should put as main characters Ares and Xena or Ares and Eve, because although this will be a X/A fic we wont see our favorite Warrior Princess until later and she wont be seen as much as Eve. For now I'll just put Ares so it's less confusing for me. Anyway, tell me what you think, I will consider adding any good ideas you come up with, credit will go where it's due so no worries.

Review at the soonest convenience please!


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